The Next Day

Chrom sat in the fighters box as he waited his turn to go into the ring in hopes of winning an alliance. Chrom thought back to the conversation he had with the East Khan Flavia early this morning.

Earlier

"So," Chrom said to Flavia, "you can't help us because your champion lost in the last tournament to decide who is the current reining Khan, as such, you don't have the authority to make alliances." "That's the basic just of it," Flavia said, "but, you all came on a pretty good day, because today is the day of that very tournament, and I still need some champions." "ChampionS?" Lissa said, "didn't you say that there was only one champion per khan?" "Normally yes," Flavia said, "but that big oaf of a khan Basilio decided that this year we both get three champion a piece. But back on topic, I have a deal for you Shepherds. You win me the tournament, and in return, I'll give you your alliance, deal?" "Deal," Chrom said, shaking Flavia's outstretched hand, "consider the tournament won." "I'm in too," Inigo said, "I want to help." "Guess I'll be champion number 3 then" Robin said. "Thank you for your help," Flavia said to the prince's and their tactician, "with you three on my team, there's no way that bald oaf is going to win this year!"

Present time

"So," Robin said, snapping Chrom out of his flashback, "how do you think Inigo is going to do?" The youngest prince was up first. "Inigo's fighting an archer," Chrom said, "and he's pretty fast, so he'll more than likely be fine." "Why do I suddenly feel nervous by that statement?" Robin said. "That's because Chrom probably just jinxed it." Vaike replied bluntly, "now, let's sit down and watch the show." Robin sat back down, feeling more nervous than when she came in.

In the Ring

"Your my opponent, huh?" Inigo asked the male he was going to be fighting against, getting a good look at him. He was wearing red trousers and had a matching cloak that he currently had the hood pulled up on, a white long sleeved top, sky blue armour on his chest, elbows and knees and a very pale pink mask that resembled the top of a healers staff. And despite what Inigo was told about him mainly being a distance fighter, having an odd shaped white bow on his back to prove it, he had a vaguely familiar golden sword on his back as well. The archer didn't answer, merely just looking down. "Not one for talking, are you?" Inigo asked cocking his eyebrow.

Before he could ask anymore questions, the gong telling them to start fighting rung and Inigo grabbed his rapier and ran to the archer, knowing his first move would probably be to get some distance. He ran and then jumped, getting ready for a downward strike, however, the archer was apparently ready for this, pulled out the sword and used it to block the attack. Inigo, not expecting this, jumped down before the archer could strike, only noticing a second to late that he had given the archer enough space to fire. Inigo, barely dodging the arrows, saw that they were made of pure light, the same went for the archers bow string. While the archer was getting ready to fire again, Inigo used the chance to get up close again. The two males fought with their swords for a bit, each strike being blocked by the other. After a minute of this, Inigo put his foot behind the archers leg to get him to fall over, and successfully made him trip, as well as slicing his mask in half, but unfortunately, Inigo tripped as well, receiving a nasty gash on his stomach. "Gah!" Inigo cried out in pain, because WOW did that hurt! To make matters worse, the archer got up while Inigo was recovering, and he hadn't gotten out unscathed either.

Their was a bruise on the archers jaw, as well as a small gash where Inigo had striked him on his face. Inigo also got a look at the archers face. He had eyes that had the presence of glowing embers they were so bright, as well as them looking like a copper colour. The archers hood had also fallen down, and he had long hair the same colour as Robin's which he kept in a weird looking ponytail. "Ugh..." The archer said, and by the looks of it he was getting a good look at Inigo for the first time as well, "what the... Laslow?" Inigo was confused, but the name rung a bell, someone had called him that before. Then he remembered, the day the Shepherds had met Robin they had also met Corrin! She had called him the same name, and Inigo also remembered that the sword the archer was using looked a lot like Corrin's sword, minus the glowing part. "Wrong person, ugh..." Inigo groaned out, " But, it's fine, you're not the first one to, ugh, make that mistake." The archers face suddenly went to confused to worried. "Quick, get down!" "Huh?" Inigo asked confused. "Your badly injured. This needs to end before you bleed out!" "N..No," Inigo said, holding out his sword, "I...I can still win this." The archer sighed before running up to Inigo and tackled him, pinning him to the ground. "Sorry," he barely said to the prince, "but I'm not letting anymore innocences die on my watch." Before Inigo could ask what he meant, he blacked out.

Half an hour later

"*Groan*" Inigo groaned as he sat up as much as he could, seeing he was in an infirmary without his shirt on, and his stomach bandaged. "You're up" an familiar voice, Robin's, said, "good, we were all really worried." "You know me," Inigo said, "I'm really not the dying type." "Well, we'd all like to keep it that way, so please be more careful" Lissa said. "You worry to much big sis," Inigo said, "so, what did I miss?" "Not much," Lissa told him, "once you passed out, the other guy won, then you were taken to get that stomach looked at. Robin won her match against that myrmidon Lon'qu pretty easy, because guess what? He's completely terrified of women!" "Talk about good luck on our side" Inigo said with a smirk, glad that Robin had managed to even things out after his loss. "Anyway," Lissa continued, "Chrom and the last champion, Marth, the guy who saved my butt when we were attacked by the Risen in the woods the night we met Robin, are currently going at it to see who wins the tournament for their side." "That sounds exciting," Inigo said, but a frown quickly fell on his face, "but let me guess, I'm not allowed to go watch?" "Doctor's orders" Robin said with a teasing smile.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. "Can I come in?" a man called from the other side. "It's open!" Robin called back. The door opens, and the man is the archer from earlier. "Oh," Lissa said in surprise, "I didn't expect you to be coming." "I just wanted to make sure he was okay," the archer replied, "and, if it's okay with L.. Inigo, I'd like to ask him something in private." "Sure" Inigo told him. "If you're sure little bro." Lissa told him, heading outside. Robin was a bit more reluctant, but she went outside too. "So," Inigo asked, "what do you need?" "You said earlier I wasn't the first person to confuse you with Laslow, "the archer said, getting right to the point, "who else said that.?" "It was just a girl I met a few days ago. She said her name was Corrin." "Corrin?!" the archer said in surprise, "platinum blonde hair, black armour, glowing sword, no shoes?!" "That's her," Inigo said, "do you know her?" The archer's face turned into one of sadness and longing, and muttered "Big Sister" Inigo, after a few moments of silence, decided to change the subject. "So," Inigo said, thinking of a question, "I don't think I caught your name. Who are you?" The archer remained silent for a few minutes, before answering.

"Takumi." "Tak...u...mi?" Inigo said, rolling the foreign name off his tongue, "that's a name you don't hear every day in Ylisse." "I guess it wouldn't"Takumi replied, still somber. Inigo wasn't giving up on lightening the mood yet though, as he asked some more questions. "Since you know Corrin and your name, I'm going to guess that you're from Hoshido?" "You're a good guesser then." Takumi said, at least looking at Inigo now. "But then," Inigo said, remembering what he had said earlier, "how are you related to Corrin then?" "That...is complicated to say the least." Takumi said. "Care to fill me in?" Inigo asked, felling happy that they were having a conversation. Takumi was silent for a minute before deciding to answer. "She was kidnapped by the Nohrians when she was younger, and was raised by was reunited with us later on, but when it came time for her to pick a side, she sided with the people who raised her. I used to hate her for this, but after some circumstances, I eventually forgave her when I understood her reasons for this." "What changed?" Inigo asked, enjoying the story.

"Guys!" Lissa said, coming in, "Dinner time! And great news Chrom won! We've got our alliance!" "Who ho!" Inigo cheered, "so, am I allowed to come out of bed now?" "Chrom said you can come if, and ONLY if, you feel better" "Looks like I'm coming then." Inigo says, getting up and putting his shirt back on, "you coming Takumi?" "Okay, I guess," Takumi replied, getting up. "Hey," Inigo asked before Takumi left, "later, can we talk some more? Please?!" "Takumi gave a small smile and simply said "We'll see" before leaving the room, Inigo following behind quickly